Is there a way to change the boot drive?

[Ganesh Anand]

I had a dual boot configuration with Win 98 and Win XP.

Recently, I made up my mind to work with Windows XP and remove Windows 98.

Windows 98 - Installed in partition C:
Windows XP - Installed in partition F:

The System drive (ntldr, ntdetect.com, bootsect.dos, boot.ini files) are
located in C:

To remove Windows 98 from my system, I deleted the folders, C:\Windows,
C:\Program Files, C:\My Documents, C:\blah blah -- all that were offsets of
Windows 98.

Now the partition contains the system files (i.e. ntldr, etc.). Hence my
system partition remains as C: and the boot partition is F:

My question is: what should I do inorder to make F: as my system partition
so that I can format C: completely and make it as a fresh NTFS partition?

Regards,

Ganesh Anand

 

[Michael Stevens]

I had a dual boot configuration with Win 98 and Win XP.

Recently, I made up my mind to work with Windows XP and remove
Windows 98.

Windows 98 - Installed in partition C:
Windows XP - Installed in partition F:

The System drive (ntldr, ntdetect.com, bootsect.dos, boot.ini files)
are located in C:

To remove Windows 98 from my system, I deleted the folders,
C:\Windows, C:\Program Files, C:\My Documents, C:\blah blah -- all
that were offsets of Windows 98.

Here are some options.
Click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into the address box
if using the web based newsgroup.
Remove a dual boot.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html#Remove
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
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[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I had a dual boot configuration with Win 98 and Win XP.

Recently, I made up my mind to work with Windows XP and remove Windows 98.

Windows 98 - Installed in partition C:
Windows XP - Installed in partition F:

The System drive (ntldr, ntdetect.com, bootsect.dos, boot.ini files) are
located in C:

To remove Windows 98 from my system, I deleted the folders, C:\Windows,
C:\Program Files, C:\My Documents, C:\blah blah -- all that were offsets of
Windows 98.

Now the partition contains the system files (i.e. ntldr, etc.). Hence my
system partition remains as C: and the boot partition is F:

My question is: what should I do inorder to make F: as my system partition
so that I can format C: completely and make it as a fresh NTFS partition?

Regards,

Ganesh Anand

The easiest way goes probably like this:
1. Boot into WinXP.
2. Delete all files and folders on C:, with the exeption of the WinXP boot
files you listed above.
3. Convert C: to NTFS.

 

[Ganesh Anand]

If I do the following will the system workfine?

1. Modify the boot.ini as instructed in the webpage. (which I already did)
2. Make backups of NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, BOOT.INI to a floppy
3. Format C: --> which initially contained Windows* 98 (and now I removed
the C:\Windows, C:\Program Files, C:\My Documents, C:\blah blah -- all
that were offsets of Windows* 98.)
4. Boot up using Microsoft Windows* XP Recovery Console
5. fixboot F: ( where F is the drive in which I installed Windows* XP)

???

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

If I do the following will the system workfine?

1. Modify the boot.ini as instructed in the webpage. (which I already did)
2. Make backups of NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, BOOT.INI to a floppy
3. Format C: --> which initially contained Windows* 98 (and now I removed
the C:\Windows, C:\Program Files, C:\My Documents, C:\blah blah -- all
that were offsets of Windows* 98.)
4. Boot up using Microsoft Windows* XP Recovery Console
5. fixboot F: ( where F is the drive in which I installed Windows* XP)

???

How are you going to format C:? WinXP won't let you - it's the
System Drive!

 

[Ganesh Anand]

The thing is: I don't want ANY files to stay in C drive. I want the boot
files(NTLDR, boot.ini, etc) to be in F drive where my windows xp is
installed.
Anyway I can achieve this?

Ganesh Anand

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Nope. Drive C: is your boot drive, and it must contain your
boot files.

Furthermore, you cannot turn drive F: into your boot drive
by making it the first visible (and active) partition.
Your installation of WinXP saw the light of the day on
drive F:, and it will end its life on drive F:. Any attempt at
running it from a different drive letter will fail (if you're lucky)
or it will permanently damage your installation (if you're
not so lucky).

 

[Ganesh Anand]

Better I make the Sun, shine for ever. I'll have my Windows XP installed in
Drive F and the boot files on Drive C

Thanks and Regards,

Ganesh Anand
[[email protected]]

 

[Michael Stevens]

If I do the following will the system workfine?

1. Modify the boot.ini as instructed in the webpage. (which I already
did)
2. Make backups of NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, BOOT.INI to a floppy
3. Format C: --> which initially contained Windows* 98 (and now I
removed the C:\Windows, C:\Program Files, C:\My Documents, C:\blah
blah -- all that were offsets of Windows* 98.)
4. Boot up using Microsoft Windows* XP Recovery Console
5. fixboot F: ( where F is the drive in which I installed Windows* XP)

???

Nope, won't work. You can do anything with a computer, but sometimes the
result is not worth the effort.
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
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